After bankruptcy, Hooters closes more restaurants

Fixing your indebtedness buys breathing room, but it does not lick the underlying issues that led to bankruptcy. That's astatine slightest partially wherefore Hooters, a institution that survived a March 2025 Chapter 11 bankruptcy, continues to adjacent restaurants aft it emerged from that bankruptcy.

Hooters pioneered what has been casually referred to arsenic the "breasaurant" model. It uses busty waitresses successful low-cut tops and abbreviated shorts to service wings, burgers, and more.

The concatenation faced each of the issues that person challenged the edifice industry.

"Hooters, similar different casual eating restaurants, has struggled successful caller years owed to inflation, the precocious costs of labour and food, and declining spending by cash-strapped American consumers," CNBC reported.

It besides faced challenges from having a concern exemplary that whitethorn person go dated. The chain's archetypal owners, who bought the concatenation backmost arsenic portion of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, really envisioned the concatenation arsenic family-friendly.

Neil Kiefer, CEO of the founder-owned unit, HMC Hospitality Group, explained to Bloomberg however the concatenation mislaid its way.

"What wounded the brand, arsenic the founders spot it, were decisions by its backstage equity overlords that took it distant from its roots arsenic a beachy destination offering bully nutrient and bully work that was besides family-friendly. Helping crystallize that view: a 2021 determination by Hooters of America to present caller waitress uniforms that looked much similar underwear than the retro jogging shorts the archetypal Hooters referenced, on with taxable nights wherever servers wore lone bikinis," the quality tract shared.

To hole the brand, the erstwhile and present existent owners planned a instrumentality to its PG-13 roots.

“You spell to immoderate parts of the country, and radical say, ‘Oh, I could ne'er spell to Hooters, my woman would termination me,”’ Kiefer said. “That’s depressing to us. We privation to alteration that.”

• Filing for Chapter 11 (March 31, 2025): Hooters of America LLC, the firm proprietor of the edifice chain, filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection connected March 31, 2025 successful the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, according to PacerMonitor filings.

• The filing was driven by mounting debt, about $376 million, and the request to restructure its superior and operations portion continuing to operate. • Business‑as‑usual during restructuring, reported Reuters.

• Despite the Chapter 11 filing, Hooters continued operating its restaurants during the bankruptcy process. The restructuring program was designed to merchantability astir oregon each of the company‑owned restaurants portion keeping the wide marque live alternatively than liquidating the business, according to Fox.

• Sale to franchisee‑backed group: As portion of the plan, Hooters arranged to transportation ownership of its company‑ownedrestaurants (reportedly astir 151 locations) to a franchisee‑backed purchaser group, which included existing franchise operators and individuals associated with the archetypal founders, Fox added.

• Store closures during restructuring: During the bankruptcy process, the institution closed dozens of underperforming company‑owned locations. For example, much than 30 restaurants nationwide were shut mid‑2025 successful respective states arsenic portion of optimization efforts tied to the restructuring, according to The Today Show.